HP and the Last Hunt
by Egnoder
Summary: Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts for his 7th year after being given a journal on becoming an animagus. He has to deal with the new DADA teacher, how to be a boyfriend to Ginny, a godfather, and an all around better friend now that no one is trying to kill him. There will be sex scenes, they exist because I feel they add to the plot. A more detailed summary is within.
1. Chapter 1

**\- Author's Note: This story started out with me considering what would have to change in the Harry Potter books for him to return to Hogwarts for his seventh year instead of simply continuing straight into Auror training. I realized that it would require him to have less tragic memories associated with the school, specifically the deaths of some of the people close to him. I didn't want this to be just a happy-go-lucky story that would substitute in as an alternate epilogue, so I am attempting to follow the style the plot takes in JKR's books. This is entirely written and checked-over by only me, so I am bound to miss somethings. Any questions or comments about characters, plot, or grammar/problems with how it is written are** **appreciated** **. I am working on two stories at the moment, both are Harry Potter stories, and I will be updating whichever I have worked on the most (To allow me to keep some buffer room so that if I hit and writers block I can still release a few chapters while I figure things out.). I expect to post every 7-10 days, earlier if I am on a roll like I currently am with Displacement, the other story about accidental time travel and trying not to change the past.**

 **I prefer three to four thousand word chapters for reading things online and will attempt not to suddenly cut the story off to fit this range. I write with a style that will often change perspectives of characters, sometimes overlapping on an event, with the narration from their active perspective as if the reader is a passenger to their thoughts. Spells that are being cast that are written in bold to represent the power and magic of the words and spell.**

 **\- Story Summary: It is Harry's eighteenth birthday and he receives quite a few presents from those close to him that leave lasting effects when he returns to his take his seventh year at Hogwarts and figure out what he really wants. One gift in particular, something that Remus found tucked away in a lost attic, that gives him and immediate goal to focus on: a journal of methods to become an animagus. With his new drive to achieve, he puts more effort into everything he does, schoolwork, research, study, being an godfather, dating Ginny, and especially enjoying himself with his friends. He also has to deal with the school's newest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. With him handling so much, Harry isn't sure if he has time to try his hand at the Marauder's legacy.**

 _Harry Potter and the Last Hunt_

 _Chapter 1 - Birthday Celebrations_

The day started with quite a jump, specifically someone jumped on Harry's bed, shook him awake, and cried out, "Happy Birthday!" Harry leaped awake and grabbed onto the intruder in his bed, pushing her down before realizing he wasn't under attack. He absentmindedly reached for his glasses before falling out of bed onto the floor. With his feet still in his bed, he pushed himself up and grabbed his glasses, finally allowing him to who his energetic wake up came from: a happily smiling Luna Lovegood. "You know, Harry Potter, there were quite a few Wackspurts lingering about you so I just thought I might try to chase them away," she continued, glancing to the door and smiling again, "that's probably what Ginny had in mind as well." Harry looked to the door to see his girlfriend's slightly pouting face turn red with embarrassment before she enter his bedroom. She pulled him to his feet and kissed him deeply. He quickly forgot about who else was there and why she had just woken him up. Just as he started to pull Ginny in close to him and let his hands wander, Luna spoke up, "Oh bother, it just seems Wackspurts are attracted to you." The couple, pulled from their passionate moment, blushed a matching red and looked over at Luna sitting on the bed with her legs curled up beside her, staring slightly above the two of them. She then hopped off the bed and left the room, calling back to them, "I do hope everything else today for your birthday can keep your brain from fuzzing out."

"Oh, wow, today is my birthday. It had completely skipped my mind!" Harry said as he shook his head. Smiling at the idea that his birthday is going happen with all of his friends around for the first time, especially not counting last year and all that trouble he had. He pulled off his shirt and tossed it into the corner where it landed on the lip of the hamper. As he moved to the bathroom, he dropped his pants and kicked them off towards the hamper. His head filled with hanging out with all his friends ended quickly when he heard a squeak from behind him. Harry spun around with his thumbs hooked in his underwear and frozen. He had forgotten a now red faced Ginny was in the room with him. He tried to play it off, but his greatest talent for improvisation fell into the category of snarky comments during life and death situations, not being flirty. "Ha, Ginny, ahm… you… me… shower," he stammered before his brain completely left him and he stated, "You're really pretty." At that, Ginny's embarrassment was overwhelmed by Harry's and she started to laugh. She managed to gain control of herself and kissed him on the flushed cheeks, her's were still matching, and said, "I guess Luna was right about Wackspurts," before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Harry finally came down the stairs to overhear the scandalized yell of a Weasley, "He does not get to proposition my little sister! Even if it is his birthday!" Before Harry made it down the stairs he heard a whack, an ow, and the sound of Ron starting in again before being cut off by several more whacks. "Honestly, Ron! It sounds like he was about to die from embarrassment, so don't you start in on him," Hermione chastised. He grinned at the thought of Hermione scolding Ron for being thoughtless, it happened so much that he could just imagine the scene perfectly. Then the twins spoke up, "Don't worry ikkle Ronnikins -"

"- there is no way you would ever find out -"

"- whether or not Harry and Ginny were -"

"- tumbling in the sheets together because -"

"- our dearest little sister is much too clever for that!" The twins burst out laughing along with several other laughs as a very embarrassed Ginny fled the kitchen and bumped into a yet again, equally red Harry. The laughter was cut short when a wispy voice spoke up, "You mean like Harry and I when I woke him up?" At this point Harry and Ginny had slipped back into the kitchen unnoticed because everyone's attention was now on Luna. Harry saw a rather sharp smile on the normally dreamy girl and realized she was pulling one over on everyone when she stared past the bewildered expressions and met Harry's eyes. A sputtering, red Hermione trying to logic her way out of the situation was the only thing that broke the silence before Harry started laughing at their expense. Luna's smile spread as the kitchen filled with laughter once again.

Harry looked around the room at all his friends that had come to celebrate with him. Ron and Hermione, of course, Neville sat next to Fred and George, Molly moved around the kitchen preparing breakfast, no matter how much Kreacher had improved since they destroyed the locket she refused to eat anything he had made, Remus and Tonks, still going by that despite now being Nymphadora Lupin, were discussing something, they had left Teddy with Andromeda for the day, Arthur talked with Bill and Fleur, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie sat together with Susan and Hannah, and last was Gabrielle who sat twirling her wand, she had become something of a little sister to him since she came with Fleur to help Hogwarts rebuild over the summer.

Harry was just starting to smile at Ginny, who had sat sideways and hooked her legs over his left leg, was brought to attention by the clatter of breakfast levitating onto the table and Molly saying, "Food's ready. 'Morning, Harry," as she passed him to sit next to her husband. They had all been living at Gimmauld's place since May. Pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, and pitchers of juices filled the table and before Harry could decide on anything, everything started helping itself on to his plate. The syrup floated past and he grabbed it, pouring a healthy amount over his pancakes. He offered and poured a smaller amount over Ginny's before passing it along to Luna who was making some sort of breakfast sandwich out of pancakes, eggs, oatmeal, and fruit. The rest of breakfast was a long, cheerful ordeal, with everyone eating their fill, telling stories, and talking about nothing in particular. It ended with everyone meandering into the living room and leaving the cleaning to Kreacher.

Hermione was the one who got everyone's attention and directed it back to Harry's birthday, "I don't think Harry had any plans besides enjoying today, so a few of us came up some things to make it special." She paused to cast a mischievous smirk to some of her fellow conspirators before continuing, "We all got Harry some presents despite his insistence that they weren't necessary -"

"But bloody well deserved!" interrupted Ron who got a gentle glare from both Molly and Hermione.

"- and some of them go along with the plans so they are getting opened now instead of this evening after dinner. Normally, I would have an itinerary ready for such a full day, but a few you refused to have formally allotted plans." She was punctuated by a small chuckle coming from Harry's old Quidditch team and to his surprise, Molly. Hermione started off by handing him an envelope and said, "I thought it might be fun watch someone else's adventure." She leaned in close and whispered as he opened the envelope and saw enough movie tickets for everyone, "Plus, the look on their faces at the wonders of muggles will be priceless."

He grinned madly and revealed the tickets to everyone, "Hermione got all of tickets to a show this afternoon."

"Like the theater? Harry won't want to sit through a play, Hermione," Ron moaned a bit.

"I actually think it sounds fun, especially since it it is muggle one," he responded.

"No magic? That's gonna make more boring!" the redhead groaned as got up and grabbed a small wrapped box off the fireplace mantle, "At least mine's going to be exciting." Harry opened the messily wrapped present and picked up reddish-brown cloth wand holster. He glanced up at Ron, confused at how a wand holster related to an activity. "That's an auror grade wand holster. I got permission from Director Bones to get you one. It's made of Manticore hair, Merlin, Charlie would have killed me if I got you a dragon one. It is resistant to most charms and a few of the aurors I talked too swear it helps protect you against some of the weaker ones." Ron's rambling brought to a head by a light cough from his mother. "Right. I also got a few of us in for the preliminaries for auror training, no written test, just some magic stuff. I know you're going back to school, but I figure if I can get you to like it, I'll be working with you next year. Maybe most you guys," as he looked at his friends.

As Ron sat back down, Ginny slipped a box onto his lap. Inside was a pocket sneakoscope that was quietly lighting up as soon as Harry touched it. "I've got you all alone for a nice quiet picnic at noon, this will let us know if someone tried to interrupt us," she said as she shot a glance at her youngest brother and her mother. Harry's imagination started going a little wild with speculation and another blush crept across his face. The twins danced their eyebrows up and down at Harry, mocking the suggestive nature of their little sister's intentions, who promptly waved them off. A few chortles came from the room as he stuffed the device into his pocket.

A rattle brought his attention to Luna, carrying a wide, flat box, softly ringing with metal shaking as she skipped towards him. She slid to a stop in front of him and gently dropped the box on to his lap. He lurched as the surprisingly heavy present landed on him and wrapped his arms round it to stop it from falling to the floor. Luna quickly spun around returned to her seat before hopping up onto to it and spinning around to kneel in the overstuffed armchair, all the while talking about her present, "I overheard some muggleborns, at least I think they were, talking about going monster hunting and mentioned hunting something called a pudding in the forest. Don't they sound delightful? I wasn't sure how we could quite capture one, so I made some tools based on what I know of pudding. I've enchanted them to get quite large with a tap of the wand because I don't know how big these creatures might be. We are going to go hunting after the auror auditions."

"At least call them tryouts. Don't make it sound like the theater," moaned Ron, who was entirely ignored by the wistful witch.

"It's a full set that I've enchanted, so there is enough for everyone."

Ron started to complain about made-up creatures when Katie cut him off, "A bunch of friends hanging out in the woods with magic? Sounds fun! Count us in!"

"Doesn't it?" Luna chirped, responding happily, apparently not noticing the group of five share some knowing glances.

Molly then spoke up, "And I've made some plans for dinner. I heard that you have never been to a real magical restaurant and will see to fix that!" The excitement from the news escaped the muggle-raised in the room. "Which means formal wizard wear!" She continued speaking over the cheers turned groans for a few. "And that is where Arthur and my present comes in," she finished with handing Harry a white cardboard parcel with a ribbon tied around it. As Harry opened the gift and lifted up the jacket off the dress robes for the group, Molly smiled and commented, "I know you've grown a bit since the Yule Ball, oh goodness, that was almost four years ago!" She sat back down next to her husband, both had a look of pleasant surprise while they reminisced about how far all the kids have come. Molly's eyes teared up a bit when she realized that it's only one more year until her children were all out in the world. Arthur, noticing his emotional wife, produced a lacy pink handkerchief which she promptly took and dabbed her eyes while she tittered. Arthur took it back, disappeared it with a toss over his shoulder, and took Molly's hand to comfort her.

The group settled down and split up, Susan, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Alicia, and Katie all went up stairs to get changed into exercise appropriate clothes. They all met back downstairs in the lounge to relax and wait for breakfast to settle and for the time to be closer to the start of the auror test. Ron came down sporting some Quidditch gear and was promptly sent back upstairs. Susan alerted the group to an embarrassing hole in Harry's shorts that he hadn't noticed when Luna mention something about his clothes helping others ward off Wackspurts and he was sent upstairs after Ron. By the time Ron was allowed to stay downstairs, Luna was showing Harry how large her gift could get by having a spoon grow until it was as tall as her. She passed it to him and he realized it was surprisingly light. After a while, a few of them were joking battled each other, forks against spoons.

Surprisingly, it was Ron who who brought the group's attention to the time and heard them to the floo. They exited into the Ministry at a floo in a dim corner, a decent ways away from the front desk. On their way to check in, the Quidditch inclined of them stretched out their upper bodies. The lady at the front desk ask them their business and then directed them through security and towards room 211B on the second basement level. Guards checked their wands and directed them through archways that detected illusion and concealment charms. Neville's passing through alerted the guards and sent him into a nervous state despite his vast improvement from when her was younger. Harry thought of Neville's unfortunate luck and then on his on as Neville quietly talked to the security and managed to pacify them enough to let him through. As each one passed through the arch, a small badge with their name on it appeared on their clothes. Harry's read:

 _H. James P._

 _Dragged-Along Trainee_

He chuckled at how these badges seem to detect intent, especially when Ron's read:

 _Mr. R. Weasley_

 _Excitable Recruit_

They made their way to the elevators, which did a great job of reminding Harry why he dislikes most forms for magical transportation. The jerky ride, stopping halfway between floors to let official papers fly through along with occasional sideways motions left Harry nauseous when he stepped out. His breakfast had resettled by the time they reach 211B. Inside there were other people already waiting for the auror training program to start. Harry recognized a few, Seamus Finnigin and Dean Thomas were talking to Parvati Patil, a few people he realized were students who had graduated in the last few years, even an older man his thirties that reminded him of Mr. Fortescue.

Not more than a minute after the last of their group walked into the waiting room, an auror called for the attention of the room. The auror was a squat man that stood at most a few inches over five feet tall, but Harry suspected the gruff looking auror's dragonhide boots added to that. He was sporting close cut mutton chops that told the room that he cared about his looks enough to make sure he was intimidating. The man cleared his throat once before the room fell silent for him, "Ah've be'n told tah look aftah yah lot. M' name's Auror Gerden." He paused for a moment to quickly judge the entire room, when his eyes came across Harry Potter and his friends, the man seemed to notice nothing except that they were the only ones already in exercise clothing. "The lot that needs tah change, the locker rooms are tah the left through here," he told everyone as he lead everyone down a hallway, "Get changed and meet meh in the room at the end."

Harry moved closer to Auror Gerden as most of the crowd broke off to get changed. The man's accent strange, it struck him more as a speech impediment than an effect of where he grew up. The auror, opened the double door and presented the room to the few currently following him, "This is ah training room. Ah'll explain furthah when everyone else gets here, but in thah mean time, might want tah limber up."

Harry glanced to Susan, with her aunt being Amelia Bones, he figured she would have an idea what to expect. He approached her but before he could ask her anything, a large freckled hand slapped him on the shoulder. Ron excitedly started to ramble to Harry about what he expects the training to be, at one point he mention fighting a troll which made Harry think back to the evening he was sorted in Hogwarts and how everyone was nervous and had crazy theories about what would happen. Harry managed to direct Ron's attention to Seamus and Dean who had just entered the room before slipping away to finally ask Susan for advice.

When he turned his attention back to the red head, she was stretching out with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Are you nervous about some training test? After what you've handled?" Harry asked quietly, it taking a second for Susan to register someone was talking to her.

"Uh? Oh. Ah, not really..." Susan was a bit flustered for a moment before collecting herself and explaining further, "I'm not really nervous about the test, I am more worried about my aunt finding out that I applied. She doesn't want me anywhere near danger if she can help it."

"Well, it's great that she worries about you so much."

"Yeah, well, the thing is is that I don't even really want to be an auror. She told me near the start of Summer that she didn't want me anywhere near anything as dangerous as being an auror now that Voldemort is gone." She swallowed with nerves at all the bad memories attached to that name.

"When she told me that, especially with how much I had done, I decided to prove to her that I have what it takes to be an auror even though I think I would rather get an apprenticeship with an enchanter."

They smiled at each other. Harry realized that Susan was amazing. She figured out what she wanted to do and is making sure she'll have her aunt's blessing to do anything she wants. Harry nodded and thought about the future. "Enchanting is runes, right?"

Susan smiled and enjoyed the distraction from her nerves, "There is a lot more to it than carving some runes, there is some transfiguration, there is the arithmancy of knowing how all the magic will interact, and most of it comes down to charms, but then again so much magic falls into the charms category."

"Yeah, hexes, curses, jinxes, actually most things we learned in Defence as well as our DA club were charms. I can only really remember Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall using transfiguration in combat and it is downright scary," Harry added with Susan nodding in agreement.

During the entire conversation Harry had been mimicking Susan's warm up routine. When they finally straightened up, Harry asked, "Do you know any ways to, well, 'limber up' our magic?" He was now reaching as far up as he could, almost forcing himself to yawn.

"Not really, my aunt always told me it was all about the mindset. I get that, but I don't fully understand how and why."

"Maybe a light duel to work out the rust from rebuilding Hogwarts?" he suggested. She nodded and moved a small distance away from him and took a slightly lowered stance, rocking on to the balls of her feet. Harry smiled at her readiness. The stance she had taken was something the DA had worked on together: keep moving, keep dodging, keep your eyes open for opportunities, keep cautious, and finally stay alive. He took a similar stance with his arms wide from his sides like a cowboy from an old Western movie.

The two stared at each other and waited for the other to make the first move. While the tension started to rise, a few people noticed their intent and moved to a safe distance away. Their movement caught Susan's attention and she came out of her stance and spoke up, "Harry, I almost forgot about the others, we can't let any stray spells harm someone."

"So, no duel?"

"No. I just have to put up a dueling shield. I know the spell, but I need a hand casting it. It takes quite a bit of energy to set up the siphoning part of the spell **,** so I will need you help casting it. The spell is **Tawm Sab Nraud Na-ada Mba Ike** and it requires some specific gestures, but I'll lead you through them."

After a few practice attempts, the two circled the area they defined as their dueling zone, the gestures and movement required to cast the spell was almost like a dance with slow spinning and both hands directing their magic. After Harry helped power the spell and define the area, Susan took over and established the other behavior of the dueling shield.

Once done, they quickly returned to their combat stances and stared each other down. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed a small shimmer in the are and a slight blurring of of details outside of the spell. He realized that he had never actually been inside a dueling shield, even during his second year, which made him think about how truly incompetent Lockheart was and how little Snape cared for the well being of his students.

Susan noticed the far away look in Harry's eyes and took advantage of his momentary distraction. "You've already gotten sloppy, Potter," Susan called out after a small flurry of stunning charms and stinging hexes flew his way. He grit his teeth as a celtic stinging hex struck his chest, causing him to dive out of the way of the others. It felt like a nail had been driven into his chest. "Couldn't wait to get the jump on me, eh? So much for Hufflepuff loyalty," he quipped back as he threw a few of his own spells back at her. He tried using a blasting curse on the floor to launch shrapnel at her but the spell fizzled and the floor only glowed for a moment. "Maybe I just want to beat you," she replied as she launched more esoteric versions of common spells as she circled him, "after all, who needs to prove themselves to the aurors when I can take on the-boy-who-lived?"

Both of them were now sporting feral grins from their back and forth. They worked at each other, he stumbled from a numbing charm that cut off all feeling to his left leg, she had to switch her wand to her left hand as a powerful itching hex struck the palm of her right hand, his teeth chattered as the sweat he was working up froze, she had to cancel a series of spells that had her moving the opposite direction she meant to be. Harry moved in to finish the duel while she was dispelling his mirror movement curse but as he stepped in with his numb leg to cast a spell of his own creation, he triggered a trap, " **Tshem Chu** \- ahhh!" Harry was launched backwards as a hundred ethereal hands grasped and restrained him. As he passed through the dueling shield, the hands disappeared but the relief at his returned freedom disappeared when he hit the stone floor hard enough to bruise.


	2. Chapter 2 - Auror Approved

**Author's Note - I have run into a little bit of a writer's block for this story, so my updates will be mostly of my Displacement story for a while. Again, any suggestions are appreciated. If you haven't noticed yet, this story is going to be a little** **ridiculous because I feel like there aren't enough situations where Harry Potter has to have fun after all those years of life and death. As I said with my other story's author's note, the reviews of stories get clumped together, so leaving a me a chapter number or plot summary to find what you are referring** **to will allow me to respond easier.**

 _Harry Potter and the Last Hunt_

 _Chapter 1 - Birthday Celebrations_

 _Part 2 - Auror Approved_

"Yes!" Susan cried out as she dropped to the floor, apparently still unable to break the curse on her, "damn this curse is annoying!" Harry slowly climbed to his feet and chuckled, "I guess this means you can skive off during the test." A few laughs came from the crowd that neither had noticed surrounding the dueling shield and Susan blushed. "Nah don't yah go thinking thah Ah'll let yah take things easy, even if yah are the director's niece," Auror Gerden spoke up. He continued as he circled the dueling shield and poked it a few times with his wand to test it. Susan cleared her throat and brought down the shield.

"Now thah the rest of yah are here. Ah will go over what is happening." Auror Gerden spoke loudly to get everyone's attention before continuing just as loudly, "First thing, get in a line when Ah address yah!" There was a shuffle as the twenty trainees lined up, Ginny and Susan ended up next to Harry. He quietly turned towards Susan and asked her what that last spell was. She quickly responded, "A Buddhist Restraining spell woven into a Banishing Charm with a presence trigger on the ground."

The auror continued talking, not noticing the quick explanation about the spell, "When ah speak, yah lot will listen! No complaining! No questioning! If ah address yah, yah will answer with a yes sir!" He paused and waited.

Susan, Harry, and few of the older applicants caught on first and loudly responded, "Yes, sir!"

"Good! Now tah rules. Don't point yah wand at anyone unless you mean to cast at 'em! If yah hear meh say 'stop,' yah stop. End of story. If anyone gets hurt worse than broken arms or legs, alert me with like so," he demonstrated by lifting his wand and a whooping sound rang out.

"Do not alert meh without cause. If any of yah will have compunction about killing, leave now," he ordered. No one moved from the line. "Ah'm partnering yah up. Aurors' work in groups, pairs at least, so yah better get used tah it!" When he walked in front of Susan and Harry, he stopped and spoke, "Ah know how well yah two will work together, so let's mix it up." He gestured to Ron and Susan with each hand, "These two redheads together, and, let meh see, yah'll be with be with him." Auror Gerden pointed at the oldest trainee. Harry moved next to the thirty year old man.

Their instructor gave them a moment to familiarize themselves with their partner. Harry learned the man was in fact Florence Fortescue's son, Phineas and was joining the Aurors as way to seek justice for his father while his younger brother and his wife were taking over the ice cream parlor. Phineas, occasionally going by Neal, explained how he was particularly good with defensive spells, especially shielding spells and counters, but lacked the conviction in Hogwarts to learn any of the more potent offensive spells. Harry did his best to explain his combat methods of high mobility and creative use of spells and how he preferred overpowering more common spells to using the more difficult and dangerous ones, though he could cast some tough ones. They quickly worked out a few basic strategies for engaging people: one had them pair up with Phineas on defence and Harry on offense, the second had Phineas acting as a decoy to open them up for Harry, and last had Harry appearing vulnerable with Phineas hidden and defending Harry. They started to work on tag-team spell combinations when auror Gerden called the ten pairs over to him.

"Now that yah have acquainted yahselves, We're gonnah play an adult game of Kings and Knights." There were few confused looks from the first generation magicals in the group. Apparently bothering Seamus enough to raise his hand. A quick glare came from Gerden before he asked, "What's Kings and Knights?"

"Well, Finnigan, it's ah magical game of tag. Yah pair up like yah are, one is the king and one is the knight. The goal of the pair is be the last pair unmarked by ah paint spell. Only ah knight gets tah cast at opposing kings. In this version, the goal is tah capture all opposing kings with the cuffs while not letting yah's get caught, with only the knight being the allowed to capture kings. Ah knight can attempt to rescue their king. Do yah best tah not get hurt. Once yah picked who is the knight, he gets this belt pouch. It contains nine pairs of auror-grade handcuffs."

A few of the younger trainees look a little disarmed, both at the fact Gerden knew who Finnigan was and that he was effectively throwing them into combat and seeing how they react. The auror continued his instructions, "After everyone is all set, ah'll activate the training room and ah'll give yah five minutes to get ready and then yah have an hour to do yah best."

With a wave of his wand, auror Gerden and his trainees found themselves next to a large fountain in the middle of a rustic style village, behind their instructor the tops of trees could be seen. "Now ah don't want any of yah to attack each other until yah hear to the starting sound, now get going!" Gerden yelled, shooing the pairs away. The last pair to leave, Neville and Parvati, received some minor stinging hexes to hurry them along.

Harry and Phineas had sprinted towards the forest the moment the auror let them. They had agreed that the plan where Harry was the decoy was their best option. They had made sure Harry was the one that took the cuffs from Gerden making it seem like he was the knight when he was in fact the king. As soon as they were out of sight of the other pairs, they ducked into a house, Phineas cast a Disillussionment Charm on both of them, and they doubled back to watch the other teams set up. Quite a few teams set up defendable positions and reinforced them with magic, Luna and Alicia set up numerous traps in their area using Luna's bizarre animal hunting experience, Phineas spotted a disguised sniper tower that someone had set up, and right as the signal rang out, Harry spotted Ginny and her partner, a recently graduated Hufflepuff that he didn't know the name of.

Together, Phineas and Harry snuck up on the pair who appeared to have taken the offensive approach and were actively searching for others. The Hufflepuff, whose name they overheard to be Briar, cast a spell, **Et Occultatum Revelare** , and before Harry realized that it was an illusion and life detecting spell, a wave of magic was rushing towards them. He foolishly attempted to duck out of the way of the spell while Phineas stepped forward and twisted his wand about while inaudibly whispering. The wave of magic parted around the sneaking pair, sparing them from being noticed. "I've got a house and street full of illusions just ahead to the left, four grouped up pings of life around fifty meters behind us, I think someone is already fighting, and a pair of pings on the edge of my range on the roofs as well as some illusions in the street below them about a hundred meters ahead," Briar listed off.

"Let's go play the third dog to the fighting ones and see if we can take both kings while they are distracted and worn down," replied Ginny after a moment's thought, "I really don't want to deal with illusions, let some other unlucky sod stumble into them and we can clean them up later." The two turned on their heels and headed past them, as they passed, Harry quickly switched Ginny's handcuff pouch with a knock-off he had managed to transfigure. Harry couldn't bring himself to attack his girlfriend but that doesn't mean he was going to let her walk away scott-free.

"I am thinking we petrify the kings and bury them under a bush when we capture them, don't want to drag prisoners into a fight," Ginny mused. Briar nodded in agreement and cast the revealing spell again to get an update on those around them. While Harry had been stealing Ginny's handcuffs, Phineas had been working a special notice-me-not charm onto the Hufflepuff so he wouldn't have to keep countering her searching, she just wouldn't notice when they showed up from her spell.

The pair slipped away, heading towards what sounded like a trap designed to draw out the knight for an ambush. Harry dropped the Disillussionment Charm and had Phineas aporate ahead to set up a flank. Harry pseudo-stealthily made his way down the street, keeping an eye out for attacks from the roofs as well as nasty traps hidden by illusions. He had learned from a strange encounter with the twins that a taste enhancing spell combined with a detection spell Moody had taught him to detect potions and poisons allowed him to almost taste the magic of illusions and enchantments. The strange spell combination was a lot easier for Harry to maintain than actively checking for them and was less distracting than spells that let him see that type of magic, granted it did require him to flick his tongue out of his mouth constantly, much like a snake, and he could only get a general sense of where the magic was. So he used it like danger sense for traps, the closer he got to a lasting spell, the more he could taste it, magic almost tasted the same way an approaching storm smelled, and avoided the hot spots of magic.

He had managed get to the ambush location and triggered the trap by attacking the illusions of two recent graduates. As soon as he **Reducto** left his wand, he dove out of the way of a line of rope from a full body binding spell flying at him. The rope missed him and piled up on the road only for it to leap at him the moment he stopped paying it any attention. He hadn't expected another layer to their attack. The rope wound itself around him and he hit the ground hard, scraping his chin and skewing his glasses enough that he could barely see out of them. He really needed to remember to put a sticking charm on his glasses before this sort of stuff.

After a few minutes, he heard the footsteps of his opponents. "Is that Potter?"

"Yeah, didn't take him for one to set off the trap like that, but he is a Gryffindor."

"Shame he is a knight."

"Yeah, but better off stunning and dumping him so a pair is down their offense." By now the pair were standing over him, one of the blurs seemed to be on the lookout for his partner. Harry became distracted from their conversation by the overpowering taste of magic, it was strong enough for him to try to scrape his tongue to get the taste out of his mouth before cancelling the spells with a mumble and a flick of his hand despite it being bound to his side.

Harry cleared his throat as he saw one of the blurs point his arm at him, "You know, the first thing every muggle knows about magic tricks is it is all about misdirection." Before the pair could question or stun him, two bolts of red struck the blurs and they crumpled. Unfortunately, the one with his arm pointed towards Harry fell on top of him. "I'd say this is going well," Phineas commented as removed his Disillussionment and plucked the pouch of cuffs off the unconscious knight. "Ugh, this isn't a restraining spell, it's conjured rope that has been animated to tie me up," complained Harry as he struggled against the bindings, "would've disappeared the moment the caster went down otherwise, clever really."

"Hold still while I cut the rope, I told you aggressive spells aren't my strongest suit and I don't want to cut you," Phineas said with a grin. After freeing him, Phineas used the pairs own handcuffs on them, commenting, "We have enough cuffs between us to lock up everyone." They proceeded to tie up the graduates using their own trick, stuck them to the ceiling with a charm, and threw a notice-me-not on them before heading out.

The rest of the hour was a series of small skirmishes, they did their best to avoid any encounter they didn't have the advantage going in and were quick to flee when things turned south. A few of the times they were forced to flee, they managed to steal the cuffs from their opponents.

By the time the hour was up, Harry and Phineas both sported a number of minor cuts and bruises and had managed to capture three kings, but Luna had promptly rescued Alicia from them and their first had been found by another pair, held three knights, one of them being a very upset Ginny who kept saying only kings were supposed to be captured, and had stolen around forty sets of handcuffs. Susan had managed to end the match in control of three kings, including Ron. She had used Vsevolozhsky's Enchantment on the kings, a Russian curse that turned them into wooden nutcrackers, and stuffed them into a conjured pack. She had used the curse accidentally on Ron when he went charging into fight that Ginny and Briar had scavenged successfully. The curse was too tedious to break under attack and she was too embarrassed to attempt to remove it with the built in failsafe, a kiss from someone who cares, to turn Ron back.

Before Gerden addressed the group and gave them his appraisal, Susan had explained her predicament to the instructor who proceeded to quickly and roughly kiss each nutcracker without a hit of shame, changing them back and dodging out of the way of a the stunner Ron had been in the middle of casting when he was cursed. He dusted himself off and cleared his throat, "Now don't think that just because yah didn't capture a king or lost yah's doesn't mean yah didn't do well. The point wasn't tah win but for yah to do yah best and let me see what yah are capable of."

He went to each pair and gave them an assessment. Not a single one was wholly good or bad, all contained suggestions for improvement. Gerden had enjoyed Susan's use of spells to permanently remove hostiles from the situation, Phineas and Harry's use of deception, stealth, and theft of the handcuffs, "Always a good idea to take the weapons from yah opponents" he commented to the entire group, and he had thoroughly enjoyed and complemented Dean and Seamus's strategy of the sniper tower with Seamus as their king tossing explosions at anyone that wasn't his partner. "Remember," he told the trainees after talking to all the pairs, "yah want to play tah yah strengths and yah foes' weaknesses."

The group took a short break to recover before auror Gerden informed them that their next test was a bit of a round-robin tournament. The pairs would be randomly teamed up together and then they would spend the next forty minutes trying to subdue their opponents. During the rest, Harry managed to get Ginny to forgive him for capturing her with only a few punches to the shoulder by convincing her that she was enough of a threat that he couldn't just let her roam free, not-so-subtly stroking her ego. He also learned that auror Gerden had endured a piercing curse that cut through his cheeks and severed most of his tongue, and that even after having it reattached, it was never quite right. He claimed the quack of a healer must have stuck it on upside down or that it was the wrong tongue because he distinctly remembered getting back at his attacker with a well timed blasting curse into his mouth.

Luna had been an unexpected powerhouse during the round-robin. She cast spells at such an alarming rate that only a continuous shielding spell could stop one from hitting someone. It didn't help that the more often than not her wand movements, spells called out, and effects didn't match. Her **Reducto** throughout everything had spewed forth bubbles, been a tripping jinx aimed at another target, a summoning charm, conjured a small coyote wearing a sandwich board sign, and a singular large bubble that exploded violently when it popped being some of the more memorable examples. That last one had gotten Harry and his team after their ignored it, thinking it was one of the spoof spells of hers to throw them off.

A very sore group of friends flooed back to home to clean up and relax a bit before Luna dragged them out around eleven to go pudding hunting. Harry could hear Ron going on and on about how brilliant it will be when he is an auror from the moment he tripped out of the fireplace until he dozed off in an armchair while waiting for a shower to be free for him to use, and even then, Ron kept mumbling about aurors in his sleep. Harry was glad his friend had evolved beyond only thinking about chess and Quidditch, having added aurors to his small list of passions.

When Luna finally came to gather everyone to go creature hunting, she let Ron sleep and instead grabbed a slightly annoyed Hermione to come with them. "I did my very best to research where find the pudding creature and made a portkey for us," Luna informed the group, "Katie was kind enough to lend me a hand with that and Daddy made up the portkey." She held up a banner of small flags that spelled out 'HARRY's BIRTHDAY!' with someone having changed the P's to R's and the 'apostrophe s' squeezed on with the 'y' in a slightly different green than the rest of the print.

"This is much better than having to huddle around an old boot," Harry marveled as he took one end of the banner. As everyone grabbed for the banner, Hermione tried to slip away but was caught by Luna by looping a section of the portkey around her wrist. Hermione started to complain, "But I don't believe in your fantasy creatures!"

"Then come for the fun!" Luna replied lightly.

"And it's in the woods!" she whined, having developed a bit of a dislike for forests after all her bad experiences. "I'd much rather just wait for…" she was cut off by Luna calling out, "Too bad!" and then "BUTTERSCOTCH," causing the room to spin as they were all launched towards their destination by the magical device.

Despite being literally swept off her feet in surprise, Hermione managed to free herself in time to let go of the portkey and land softly. Harry managed to overcome most of his normal aptitude for magical travel by rolling out of the usually rough landing instead of slamming into the ground. The twins scooped him up, set him on his feet, and spelled the dirt off of him before he even stopped rolling. "Can't let the birthday boy stay dirty," the twins chimed together, "Remember, **Scourgify** is the cleaning spell, and one can never forget that." The pair had laid the second part on thick with sarcasm by imitating their mother.

As the twins pulled away and checked on everyone else, Harry saddled over to Hermione and leaned in to avoid being overheard, "I'm thinking the two wheeze's are up to something, any ideas?"

She shook her head lightly as he added, "Then we should probably keep and eye out for whatever the magical equivalence to mythical creatures the twins can conjure up to prank us with."

She frowned at that idea and tried to think of some magical creature that doesn't exist outside legends and tales. After a moment she responded, "Wizards really aren't that creative; I can only think of the Ice Phoenix, which burns cold and instead bursting into flames and being reborn they, 'consume' the death of other creatures, keeping both alive." She paused for a thoughtful glance and a chin tap before adding, "Oh, as well as and their song is supposed to inspire fear the less likely and ready a person is to die and and comfort the dying."

"So what happens if an Ice Phoenix consumes the death of a regular one?"

"I can only think of two stories about the Ice Phoenix, the first describes a deaf villager witnessing everything that could hear the death knell of the bird died and crumbled to frost, including plants and him being too terrified to move as he watch the icy creature collect the frost and made what looked like an egg. The second story is about a heroic witch, Talaria the Returned if I recall correctly, that at one point in her epic helped an Ice Phoenix and in return, it brought her back to life after her rival poisoned her and attempted to turn her into an Inferni."

Harry shook his head in awe at how much Hermione managed to say so quickly without taking a breath. They turned their attention to Luna who was starting to explain how the hunt for the puddings would work when Hermione slapped her forehead quietly and groaned, "I can't believe I forgot about all of Luna's creatures!"

Luna brought the rest of group's attention to Hermione's remark by responding without missing a beat, "Hermione Granger is correct, that is why I know how this hunt will go. First we try to establish what it needs to exist: sugar, rice, eggs, milk, and fruit all mean it's an omnivore favoring farm and forest environments, which means this area where we are. Second, we think of its method of travel, no bones to support it, it will probably have problems moving around on its own, so it will be largely stationary or use magic to move, which means we have no real way to track it without constant magical detection, which is quite tiring, Daddy passed out last time he tried it. And finally we know…" She trailed off right before Angelina spoke, almost if she was expecting someone to chime in, "that they have predators because we all know pudding is delicious."

"And hunted things cause scuffles which we can look for," Luna picked up fluidly, "we can take our time and move about while keeping our ears peeled. I am sure some friendly chatter won't disturb anything."

So off the group went, hunting for puddings, which felt surprisingly like a stroll in the woods with his friends to Harry. The only real difference is that everyone was carrying various pieces of cutlery.


	3. Chapter 3 - Tracking Treats

**-Author's Note: I managed to wrap up this chapter with some difficulty. There were a few things that I kept going back and rewriting. It didn't help that an idea for a Luna/Harry story popped into my head and I started working on that. This chapter is likely to be the last for a while with this story because I am at a hard literary wall with the fact that I have an idea of what I want to happen next but I have no idea of how to write it out.**

 **As an important note, this chapter contains a bit of smut near the end.**

 _Harry Potter and the Last Hunt_

 _Chapter 1 - Birthday Celebrations_

 _Part 3 - Tracking Treats_

After leisurely meandering for forty minutes, Harry had learned a bit about some of his friends' plans for the future. Hermione had been inspired by her Runes class and wanted to study ancient magical societies to uncover forgotten magic that will lead to a deeper understanding of the world, her plans required her to become a proficient curse breaker because most magical archaeological sites were suffuse with magical danger, both ambient and intentional. He learned to cast the Buddhist Restraining spell from Susan, who had informed him that its original purpose was a meditation tool designed to be a physical manifestation of one's doubts and distraction so it was easier to focus the mind and attain enlightenment. Neville barely had to speak before Harry easily guessed correctly that he was going for his mastery in Herbology, wanted his own greenhouse for experimentation, and to eventually teach at Hogwarts. Fred and George were already living their dream, so instead, mentioned some prank items they had plans to make, including a two stage laundry detergent and potion mix that would turn the the drinker's clothes invisible, which a sample for testing was promised to be ready by Halloween. Angelina was working with the twins in their shop and things were apparently getting pretty serious between her and George. Alicia had helped out Katie by going into hiding with her and her family, during which they discovered that together they had a knack not only for Quidditch but also designing clothes for their disguises and made promises to become professional players and then launch a clothing line together. Hannah's uncle had purchased the Leaky Cauldron and she was going to be helping him out there when she could while she was going for her healer's license. Gabby, had managed to skip ahead a year when she transferred to Hogwarts and had to face the OWLS this year. She was hoping to get high enough grades to continue with Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense especially, hoping that they will lead to some sort of exciting career she hadn't yet decided on.

Just as Harry was getting around to talking with Luna, she quietly called everyone's attention to a small clearing that had evidence of a strange scuffle. Harry thought it looked like a bunch of five year olds tried their hand at baking. There were eggshells strewn about, some trees were coated in flour as if someone has exploded the sack, and several trees had deep cuts that were dripping sap. Despite all the chaos, Luna quickly pointed out a series of perfectly round prints in the flour and grass, told the group that it was probably the puddings, and that they should follow it. "Remember, we don't know how these creatures react to anything, so it is best we avoid using magic if we can," she chirped happily as she almost skipped along the tracks of the supposed puddings. Harry and Hermione eyed the twins and their usual pranking crew suspiciously, but their faces didn't give up any sign of mischievous intent.

Their counter-prank planning was interrupted by a high pitched squeal of delight from Luna as she started to rush forward, "There they are!" Before anyone could react, Luna had sprinted ahead of everyone with an enlarged spoon raised over her head. The thing that she was running at looked like a giant dish of flan with the dish appearing to be animated and walking about with small silver feet. The flan spun around in surprise, revealing two gelatinous arms, a strangely long tongue that was lapping up the sap of a maple tree, and a scrunched up face that reminder Harry of the Sorting Hat.

The creature scurried away on its dish while making a gurgle sort of popping sound and the slits where its eyes would be widening slightly. Luna's spoon slammed down where it had been as two more of these bizarre creatures fled from their hiding place in a bush. Each one looked like enough to feed all of them had it been regular pudding. Luna started running after the nearest one, "This is wonderful! Daddy and I never find what we are looking for this easily!" Her enthusiasm was infectious, or at least distracting enough to not notice the twins and Angelina casting cheering charms on the entire group, so they all joined in the chase, laughing the entire time.

The three desserts lead them on a romp through the woods until they ran past a hot spring and into a cave. Harry, still laughing, was stopped from running in after them by Luna, "We have to be careful, this could be their den, and we don't know if there are more of them or if those were just puddinglettes."

"Pudding...lettes? Ah, I get it," commented a slightly winded Hermione, less out of breath than how some of her rants left her.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" added Harry, but before anyone could come up with anything beyond 'hit them with a spoon' a soft stomping sound came from the cave.

"Weapons at the ready!" called out Luna, exchanging her normally Fae-like demeanor for a commanding one that reminded Harry of some of the senior aurors he had met. "I want everyone to spread out and circle around whatever comes out! Susan, Hannah!"

"YES?" Hannah accidentally shouted in surprise.

"Make sure that nothing else comes out of the cave while our attention is elsewhere."

"Yes," they responded in unison before moving to either side of the entrance and waiting as the stomping got louder. Out came a pudding as tall as Ginny. It wore an expression that looked like it was grumpy from being woken up. It stomped out into the middle of the group's circle, grumbling and growling in a similar manner to the smaller puddings, but its size and the deepness of its voice were fairly intimidating. Fred, George, and Angelina glanced at each other with wide eyes and audibly gulped and whispered to each other, only to be overhead by Harry, "That is not good -"

" - and definitely not what we had in mind -"

" - when we set this up."

"How are we going to deal with this?"

"Smile and play along, boys." The three of them worrying and finishing each other's sentences. They drew their cutlery and flicked them with magic to enlarge them, giving Susan a very good idea to talk to Luna about patenting and using her enchantment on some useful magical items. Her straying thoughts were cut off by the woman in question rushing forward like a blonde streak with a battle cry, " _Rikk-Tikk-Tikki-Tikki-tchk!_ " and thrust her spoon deep into the surprised pudding's body. A stunned group of witches and wizards as well as pudding watched as Luna twisted the spoon expertly and removed a huge spoonful of pudding that slowly formed into a smaller, crying pudding. Propping the enlarged spoon under one arm, she deftly retrieved a second spoon from her pocket and drove it down into the top of the pudding and removing a regular-sized spoonful of flan from the captured flan and ate it in a single fluid motion. The tiny flailing pudding stilled and became a regular, albeit large, serving of desert when she swallowed the bite.

The pranksters sighed in relief that their creation was going to be able to wrecking desserty, unstoppable havok on everyone. The giant pudding clutched at its gaping hole before swinging its arms about like it belonged in a Hong Kong action movie. The group attempted to follow Luna's slightly terrifying example and began jumping at the monster, attempting to bury one of their utensils into its head, well, caramelized top Harry mentally corrected as he was the first one to reach it. Unfortunately, the dessert had other things in mind and proceeded to deflect any attack and toss the hunters away from it.

"Merlin, this thing is weird!" Katie called out as she watched both Fred and George take a gooey fist to the face and go stumbling away and landing on Angelina. Luna had managed the best against the defenses of the aggressive dessert by spinning and thrusting, parrying and striking, while the rest slowly gave up their attempts and watched in awe. Unfortunately, the flan managed to get the upper hand by disarming Luna and knocking her off balance. As she stumbled,the pudding moved to strike her down when Harry called out, "Luna! Catch!"

She deftly grabbed his tossed butter knife and spun around the delicious fist, swinging the utensil. The pudding turned to face Luna again as she threateningly spun the dull blade around and struck a pose before it. When she started to speak, Harry swore her mouth wasn't moving with her words, "You are no match for me, tasty treat. You don't even know that you have already been defeated!"

The pudding chuckled and took a single menassing step towards her before its angry expression turned to a shocked one, along with the rest of the group. A decent portion of the top of the flan slid off of it at an angle, having been so swiftly cut by Luna that no one had noticed, not even the creature. Luna's out of synch speaking continued, "There is no pudding in all the realms that I cannot conquer. You shall be remembered as a worthy foe."

Her mood suddenly shifted back to normal, well, normal for Luna. She turned towards the three sprawled out pranksters and said, "Thank you so much for making sure our hike had a snack!"

Stunned that they had been so easily seen through, Fred replied, "Yeah, uh, no problem, Luna." George shook his head and mumbled something about how it was possible that Luna was the first to figure everything out. Harry helped the three up and waved his wand over them, " **Scourgify**. Well, I guess you were right about me needing to remember the spell." Laughter rose up as the group conjured up a large picnic blanket and dishes so they could relax and enjoy a well earned treat.

They all talked about various pranks and their hopes for the new school year. The twins complained that they had no one particularly dedicated to jokes to leave their Hogwarts legacy to, so they had added a few things during the reconstruction of Hogwarts, including what they called the Hall of Mischief. The two described it as a special record room or museum of pranks that recorded every trick ever done on the school grounds using some enchantments tied into the wards and listed it, including total points lost by every prank and prankster. The only thing they told the group about what was in it was that it honored the true Marauders and they managed to include some of the funnier things that Harry had happen during his early school year, somehow including Harry and Hermione's stint with the time turner, despite them never even informing Ron what actually happened.

After cleaning up the mess the group had made, they started apporating back to 12 Grimmauld Place. Harry was stopped by Ginny as she tugged him towards the hot springs. "Luna told me about the hot spring she had found when scouting the forest for today, so I made some preparations of my own," she told him with a smile. When they arrived at the spring, she pulled out a basket that had a few towels and a lunch for both of them in it. "I hope you kept the sneakoscope with you," she added. Harry just nodded and pulled the whirling knick-knack from his pocket. The device really started to light up as Ginny said, "Turn around so I can get changed for the spring, we can have lunch in it and relax."

Harry eyed his present and girlfriend suspiciously and faced away and didn't turn back around until he heard her sigh in delight has she slipped into the pool of hot water. "I left what you should get changed into in the basket," she called to him with her head sunk low in the gently churning water, his device gave a single loud whistle when Ginny said that. Harry dug around in the basket, but after the towels had been removed, all that remained in it were some dishes designed to float on the water and food. "Ginny," Harry spoke as he dug deeper into the basket looking for swimming trunks, "There is nothing for me to wear in here."

"Exactly."

"Then what are you…" He trailed off as a blushing Ginny lifted herself to a proper sitting position in the hot spring, exposing a decent portion of her bare breasts. Harry stuttered for a moment, causing his girlfriend to blush even brighter. This caused his brain to all but shut down as the sight of the beautiful woman filled every corner of his brain. "You are incredible," he muttered dumbly before realizing he was staring and fumbled to join her. She glanced away and covered her face in embarrassment. In his rush to join her, Harry almost fell in when he tried to take his pants off without first removing his shoes.

After a moment, the two managed to settle in next to each other, legs touching, sharing massive, embarrassed grins, and their lunch floating about on dishes that drifted towards them whenever they reached for food. After a delicious picnic style lunch that Ginny had made herself, their attention turned fully from food to their naked partner.

It started out with nervous kissing that they sunk into, forgetting any social etiquette, and started holding one another close. Slowly, hands became more bold as they moved from neck and waist to roam and explore. They had moved off the natural bench of the spring and were standing pinned together in a deeper part with their shoulders just above the water. Ginny enjoyed the feeling of running her hands across his abs but loved the sensation of squeezing his bum. Ginny's hands had been the ones to set the pace with Harry taking ques for what was acceptable from where she grazed and kneaded. When her left hand had found its way to his nipples, she delighted in teasing them until they hardened, she enjoyed teasing him until he let out a soft, aroused growl that had her own nipples hardening and heat rushing to her core without even being touched.

Ginny pulled away slightly so she could put more focus into massaging all of Harry's body before working up the nerve to reach for the really fun bit pressed against her stomach like fire and steel. She was taken by surprise when Harry's kisses began wandering up her jaw and towards her ear. He whispered in her ear with a sultry tone, "This is the best birthday present I have ever received," before kissing down her neck. A haze had fallen over the two of them as they panted and deeply breathed each other's breath. Harry's right hand found its way to her breast and sensually began kneading it, alternating between tracing erotic spirals with his fingernails that circled her nipples, cupping her entirety in his palm and gently undulating his fingers around their base, and softly pinching and pulling her nipples, all drawing moans and mewls from her as their tongues returned to enjoying as much of their partner's mouth as possible. Ginny could hardly managed a thought outside of how much she wanted more of him.

"Harry," she managed to groan into his mouth as she managed to pull her hips away from his, producing a growl of disappointment from Harry at the loss of sensation as they had begun grinding together without realizing it. A small gasp escaped him as Ginny's hand unwrapped itself from his back and shoulder and slid down his body and then up onto his shaft. He could feel her smile as she gave him a light squeeze and started to stroke him. "Ginny, god, Ginny," he managed as she slipped to his side to make it easier to slide her hand up and down his shaft. She pressed her body tightly to his side and bit on to his ear after she whispered in it filled with lust, "I plan on making sure you never forget today."

His eyes squeezed shut and his mouth hung slightly slack as he kept whispering her name in reverence. He managed to collect himself enough to have his hand slide down her back and reach passed her wonderfully taught rear to rest his palm on her center. Ginny stilled for a moment with a brief shudder before continuing her strokes except now grinding her body down onto his hand and side with each pump. It was his turn to shudder in pleasure when he heard erotic mewls to come from her lips as she started to suck on his shoulder, unable to reach his lips without taking her burning core away from his fingers which had started exploring, spreading, and massaging at her lips and knub.

Harry began to thrust his fingers inside of Ginny, illisiting a keening sound from her as she clenched down on him with her thighs, lips and teeth nibbled at him, her unoccupied hand tightened on his rear, and she managed to quicken her strokes over the entire length of his rod. Passionate minutes went by like this when Harry managed to shift his posture thrust his mouth upon her's. They both felt their desperation and pressure rise, as fingernails scratched in erotic tension, Harry's hand reached across his chest to massage her breast as it was pressed against his body, and their tongues and lips sought to consume each other.

Ginny broke first when Harry began to rub at her clit. She clenched down with her entire body, including biting down on his lip. She held fast and spasmed rhythmically as Harry continued with his sensual touching. The only movement Ginny made was to release his lip as she almost screamed out his name. Her voice toppled him over the edge and he joined her climax. Soon the orgasms subsided and they were left clinging together, throbbing with satisfaction. At some point they had shifted front to front again and held the other close.

After a minute of standing still, the couple sank back down on to the natural bench of the spring with a sigh. Ginny pulled herself across his lap and settled her head in the crook of his neck. They stayed like that, basking in each other's presence, enjoying the sounds of the forest around them. Harry could feel Ginny's smile grow on her face, causing one of his own to form. He slowly began to kiss the top of her head, keeping his close as he starting whispering how amazing she was.

The heat and passion began to build back up between them. Before long they were alight with desire. Ginny shifted her legs and saddled across his lap. Soft grinding pressed hip against hip as they kissed. Ginny started rubbing her center up and down his length, her groin pressed so tightly against Harry's staff that her lips parted slightly to wrap around his shaft. Harry's hands fell to her hips and pressed and pull Ginny into more desperate gyrations. They started to groan and pull at one another's lips.

The tension continued to build as they writhed together. At the peak of Ginny's gyrations, she rolling her hips forward as if she wanted to take him into herself but was hesitating. He could feel Ginny working herself up to something. His mind wandered away as she took his face in both hands and kissed him roughly. His thoughts came back to him when he felt Ginny tense up and held still over his tip. Just as she started to lower herself on to his, Harry pulled his head away and gently took hold of her wrists.

"Wait," he breathed as he pressed his forehead against her's.

She stopped her descent and spoke with worry, "What? Why not?"

Before Ginny's fears got away from her, Harry pulled her into a hug and kissed her. "I'm not sure I can do this right now," he muddled out, thinking about his words. "I mean, I don't think it will be right for us to do this right now when we have to meet up later with everyone else; I want our only thoughts to be about each other," he continued.

"Oh, Harry," Ginny murmured back. He wasn't she what her response meant and then she clarified, "It does ruin it a bit. Maybe tonight, after everyone is gone and asleep and it will be just us."

"Just us," he confirmed.

"That doesn't mean we can't bring this to an enjoyable conclusion," she declared with a wink before starting to grind her hips again. Any clever comeback hitched in Harry's throat as the amazing sensation removed his higher reasoning.

He kissed down her neck and chest until he was able to latch his mouth onto her breasts. She gasped at the new sensation and wrapped her arms around his neck and head. Ginny dug her fingers through his thick black hair and gasped his name. As her pleasure grew, her speech devolved, her panting "Harry" soon became " 'arry," then " 'arra," and finally whining gasps of, "ang, ang, ang."

Harry suckled and teased at her breasts, pressed and kneaded her ass to guide her hips tightly along his inflamed length. Ginny had rolled her head back, lost in pleasure. Harry kissed up her chest and neck to her ear, which he played with, nibbling and licking, before whispering each word in between pants, "Tonight it will just be you and me, no one else to worry about."

An erotic thought crossed his mind and he decided that Ginny needed to know about it, "Just you taking me inside you." She stiffened at the thought as the fire rising inside her turned into an inferno. Harry continued when he interpreted her reaction as positive, "Me pressing deep inside you again and again." A trill almost started in Ginny's throat at the idea.

He started grinding harder into her with each word he uttered, "All of me touching all of you. No restraint, nothing to stop us." At this Ginny was overcome with an orgasm. She started to writhe and clutch at him in ecstasy as he continued pushing her with his words, "Just me deep inside you."

Harry's own climax began to surge. He managed to grind out his words as his erection throbbed, "Again and again until we collapse." He joined her in bliss as he finished his sentence.

They gripped each other as they twitched from their ogasms. It felt like the world came to stop and for a brief moment and there was only them. They came out of their mutual daze by gasping for breath, having briefly forgotten to breathe. They managed to lift heavy eyelids to stare into each other's eyes.

Not breaking eye contact, they shift their bodies so they were comfortably wrapped around each other, sitting on the shelf of the hot spring. As the couple recovered their breath, they sank deeper together. At some point they had closed their eyes and were almost dozing off. Harry spoke with his eyes still closed and his forehead pressed against her's, "I hate to even consider moving, but I think we agreed to go to the theater soon."

"Ugh, no," Ginny complained as she held him tighter, "I'm sure we have plenty of time. Maybe enough time for a nap, and maybe something…"

She was cut off by the buzzing from an alarm spell. "Ahrgh," Ginny complained when she had to pull away from Harry to reach for her wand to cancel the spell. Harry was chuckling as she crawled back to the spring. She started pulling him out. "Come on! It's your birthday, so it's your fault we have be somewhere," she accused him and gave a satisfied grunt as he put up his hands and said, "Alright, I'm moving."

The perturbation of having to leave the comfort of the springs lead them to forget that they were naked. New embarrassment flushed across their faces despite the intimacy that they just experienced. Ginny had the bright idea to help Harry dry himself off so she could take the time to enjoy his exposed body. When he returned the favor, she showed him a few of the charms she uses to care for her hair, which he promised to master for the next time they get wet together.


End file.
